GTP Cool Wall: 1997-2003 Toyota Prius (XW10)

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1997-2003 Toyota Prius (XW10)

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Wiegert

Wiegert

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1997-2003 Toyota Prius (XW10) nominated by @FerrariF1GT

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Body Style: 4-door sedan
Engine: 1.5L 1NZ-NXE I4 + 288 volt battery (NHW10), with VVT-i + 273.6 volt battery (NHW11)
Power: 98 hp (NHW10), 114 hp (NHW11) (both when combining gas and electric motors)
Torque: 300 lb-ft (NHW10), 340 lb-ft (NHW11) (both when combining gas and electric motors)
Weight: 1254 kg
Transmission: 1-speed planetary gear
Drivetrain: Front-engine, front wheel drive
Additional Information: This Prius was the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle. It was initially only sold in Japan, but starting in 2000 models were exported to other areas. The NHW10 was the domestic model, and the NHW11 was the imported model.
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Probably the most conservatively styled Prius, and for a Prius, that's a good thing.
 
Sub-Zero because hybrid.
Sub-Zero because Prius.
Sub-Zero because it's a Prius before it became the trademark car for environmentalists. Doesn't mean I'm not an environmentalist, because I am one.
Sub-Zero because it's a Prius that doesn't look like the Prius most people think of.

This is by far the coolest vehicle ever made, it even outclasses the Lockheed SR-71 in terms of coolness. It's the only car I can even imagine Mr. McQueen driving. I bet he'd find helping out the environment would be really cool, especially in the society we live in today. I hope this gets higher than the Miura, but by the looks of it, that won't happen. :(
 
The only one that misses out on the automatic public response. Of course, instead people might just think you own an Echo.
 
Revolutionary car cleverly disquised as an econo-box. I can't bring myself to call it cool, if it drives like dad's '04 it never will be.

I don't really see it as seriously uncool either though. Just uncool because you look like you are a college freshman just trying to get by for now.
 
I forgot where the Chinese got their interior ideas from, thanks for the reminder
 
From my perspective, you buy a Prius because you want to let people know you are driving an economical car. All generations from the second generation onwards look distinctive, but to the average person, the first gen looks like any other conservatively-styled compact saloon. It doesn't get any better on the inside either.
 
Looks like a shrunken Avensis.
 
Low Cool. I prefer it to any other Priuses. It was one of the many first hybrid cars too and the looks ain't too bad. Coulda voted meh but, this is another guilty pleasure of mine.
 
Not nearly as heinous as the much later models, but still not very easy on the eyes. Gets positive points for being the model before the Prius became a status-symbol.

Still seriously uncool, but not quite as seriously uncool as the later models.
 
This was probably the best looking Prius as it at least tried to look relatively normal.

Doesn't save it from Seriously Uncool.
 
I gotta give it a cool because it doesn't look like a Prius...I thought they were Echos when I was younger.
 
It's pretty middle of the road and the only remotely cool thing about it was it was one of the first mass marketed hybrids. If "meh" was a reasonable choice, it's probably describe the Prius to a T, but since it isn't, we will go with uncool.
 
Uncool. But I do have a strange hankering for one. Got to drive an original Prius earlier in the year and if you used it in the city, it'd still make a lot of sense today - the concept hasn't really dated given that even the latest Prius still works along similar lines. Pic of the example in question:

prius-1.jpg

I suspect one day it'll have a kind of hipster "I drive a hybrid from before they were popular" cool, but it doesn't have the "beamed in from the future"/"actually quite fun to drive" cool of a gen-1 Honda Insight.
 
Best car ever.

SU

Sorry for the old GT joke.
 
I tried to reason with myself that this thing was cooler than the backlash would suggest, I really did. But there is almost nothing redeeming about this car for me. And I like hybrid technology.
 
It's a horrible car with nothing to shout about. Yes, it's a hybrid, but it's absolutely terrible. Seriously Uncool
 
It's probably the least offensive Prius I've seen, and I would actually own one. Meh.
 
It's the Prius I would most likely have if I had a Prius, and while I have absolutely nothing against the Prius (their owners can be a bit much), they most certainly are not cool.
 
Meh. It does what it was meant to do and that's pretty much it. It's not a bad car. It's just not an exciting one. But that's not the point.
 
The backlash to the backlash is real.
 
Unlike some people here, I don't think that it's the most likeable generation of the Prius, but that's probably because aside from the image problem, which seems to be mostly an American thing anyway, I actually like the shape of the two following Prii. Instead this one mostly looks like a forgotten saloon version of the Yaris that was only sold if an old person walked into a dealer but refused to buy a hatchback.
 
Whilst the Insight of this generation was a far more interesting car, Toyota wanted to show that high tech hybrid equipment can be used in relatively normal platforms, which resulted in this.

By that accounts, it can't be anymore than a meh.
 
Pry-us or Pree-us?

Seriously Uncool
 
Slipped, meant to vote a simple Uncool. It's an unfortunate-looking thing in profile, but it doesn't come with the baggage of the later models, so isn't as deeply uncool as those. I notice a handful around, and I always wonder how the owners are getting on with them now that they're quite old.
 
One of the easiest Sub Zero's I can recall
 
What a unremarkable car this is, at least when glance at it. Hybrid stuff is a cool piece of tech in my eyes. Can a Prius deserve at least a meh vote? Nope. It's a Prius it can never be cool, but at least it isn't as Uncool as the later gens which have become status symbols.
 
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